Former mayor dishes advice to grads

By Jennifer R. Lloyd :
May 10, 2013
: Updated: May 10, 2013 10:39pm

Former Mayor Lila Cockrell, 91, told St. Philip's College graduates it's time to set new goals, and reminded them that keeping a sense of humor is all-important no matter what they do.

Photo By For the San Antonio Express-News

Former San Antonio mayor Lila Cockrell takes the stage May 10, 2013 at the St. Philip's College commencement ceremony inside the Freeman Coliseum. Cockrell was the speaker for the commencement.

Photo By For the San Antonio Express-News

Former San Antonio mayor Lila Cockrell speaks May 10, 2013 at the St. Philip's College commencement ceremony inside the Freeman Coliseum.

Photo By For the San Antonio Express-News

Former San Antonio mayor Lila Cockrell speaks May 10, 2013 at the St. Philip's College commencement ceremony inside the Freeman Coliseum.

When you get to be a grandmother, Lila Cockrell says, you don't even have to be asked to give people advice.

Speaking at the St. Philip's College commencement Friday at Freeman Coliseum, the former San Antonio mayor had a few tips for the morning after the ceremony.

“I've got news for you: Education must be a lifetime commitment,” Cockrell, 91, told the gown-clad grads. “As long as you live, every day keep learning something new.”

In 1975, Cockrell became the first woman mayor of a major U.S. city. She served four terms.

She suggested graduates act with brotherly love when a crisis like the Boston Marathon bombing occurs. She also urged them to think about their faith, calling freedom of a religion a “wonderful privilege.”

Keeping a sense of humor is a must, Cockrell said, recalling with a smile how, as an Alamo City delegation made the rounds in Washington, a U.S. senator mistook a San Antonio chamber of commerce chairman for the mayor and assumed she — the real mayor — was his wife.

Joshing with the chamber honcho, the senator said, “Mr. Mayor, if the truth were known, I bet she knows more about city government than you do,” Cockrell recalled.

It's time to set new goals, she told the graduates, “because you have lots of life left to live.”

Among the 355 students flipping their tassles, the next goal for Elizabeth Gutierrez, 32, is to join the U.S. Navy. She earned her associate's degree in automotive technology along with a platinum cord, a new piece of regalia for female graduates preparing for traditionally male-dominated fields.

“It was definitely a process getting through the schooling,” she said, her short-cropped hair dyed bright blue, one of St. Philip's colors, for the occasion. “I'm just so happy I'm done with everything, so I was like, I'm just going to go wild.”

Of getting into what has been a man's field, she said, “I hit it straight on.”